Novant Health’s Revenue Cycle Revolution

Posted on: May 5, 2017

May 8, 2017 — Voted one of the nation’s best places to work in healthcare by Becker’s Hospital Review, Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Novant Health operates with a mission of improving the health of communities, one person at a time.

Novant Health is making a notable shift in its culture, looking to create a “Revenue Cycle Revolution” by focusing on the human experience. In an interview with Healthcare Finance News at the HIMSS Revenue Cycle Solutions Summit, Novant Health’s senior director of patient financial services, April York, spoke from a Revenue Cycle standpoint about how the phrase “human experience” takes on a new connotation.

While the clinical team focuses on the care experience, York says the Revenue Cycle team can help remove controllable elements of patients’ suffering, in particular, helping them understand and manage the cost of care. The Novant Health Revenue Cycle Revolution focuses on educating patients early in the process about what their out-of-pocket costs will be, and providing options for how they can meet those financial obligations. Offering multiple payment options with different timeframes, such as the ClearBalance® consumer-friendly patient loan program, makes a patient’s cost of care much more affordable.

Novant Health’s Revenue Cycle Revolution is showing results. Through outreach efforts, patient collections increased by more than $41,000 from 2015 to 2016, and the loan program reduced bad debt from patient pay by $15 million.